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Franco-Prussian War: A Visual History

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Visual history of a war

Bismarck's edited telegram, Napoleon III's surrender at Sedan, the siege of Paris, the German Empire proclaimed at Versailles and Alsace-Lorraine lost for 47 years.

Fought
1870 to 1871
Duration
1 year
Dates
19 July 1870 to 10 May 1871
Deaths
About 140,000 French and 45,000 German soldiers; 20,000 or more in the Commune
France
Second Empire, then Government of National Defence; Napoleon III, Bazaine, MacMahon, Gambetta
Germany
Prussia and North German Confederation with Bavaria, Wurttemberg, Baden; Moltke, Bismarck, Wilhelm I
Result
German victory; German Empire founded; French Third Republic; Alsace-Lorraine annexed

The Franco-Prussian War (1870-1871) was provoked by Bismarck's editing of the Ems telegram over a Hohenzollern candidacy for the Spanish throne; France declared war on 19 July 1870. The German states' mobilisation by rail overwhelmed the French; Bazaine's army was trapped in Metz and MacMahon's, with Napoleon III, surrounded and captured at Sedan on 2 September. The Republic proclaimed in Paris fought on; the city was besieged from September to January, Gambetta escaped by balloon to raise new armies, and Wilhelm I was proclaimed German Emperor in the Hall of Mirrors on 18 January 1871. The armistice, the Treaty of Frankfurt (Alsace-Lorraine, 5 billion francs) and the crushing of the Paris Commune followed. About 180,000 died.

When it was fought: the era ribbon

The bold bar is Franco-Prussian War. The lighter bars are empires and wars from the same era and the same part of the world. Click any bar to jump to its page.

800100012001400160018002000Franco-Prussian War (1870 to 1871)Open: Holy Roman EmpireHoly Roman Empire (800 to 1806)Open: Spanish EmpireSpanish Empire (1492 to 1976)Open: British EmpireBritish Empire (1583 to 1997)Open: Second French colonial empireSecond French colonial empire (1830 to 1980)Open: French conquest of AlgeriaFrench conquest of Algeria (1830 to 1903)Open: Wars of Italian Unification (Risorgimento)Wars of Italian Unification (Risorgimento) (1848 to 1871)Open: Wars of German UnificationWars of German Unification (1864 to 1871)Open: Austro-Hungarian EmpireAustro-Hungarian Empire (1867 to 1918)Open: World War IWorld War I (1914 to 1918)Open: Nazi GermanyNazi Germany (1933 to 1945)

Troops mobilised by the third week

German railway mobilisation gave a decisive edge.

0100200300400German states: 380380German statesFrance: 240240FranceFrench captured at Sedan: 100100French captured at SedanFrench captured at Metz: 180180French captured at Metzthousands

Timeline of the Franco-Prussian War

  1. 1870
    Ems telegram; France declares war13 to 19 July.
  2. 1870
    Worth; Gravelotte; Metz besiegedAugust.
  3. 1870
    Sedan; Republic proclaimed; siege of Paris beginsSeptember.
  4. 1870
    Metz surrendersOctober.
  5. 1871
    German Empire proclaimed; Paris capitulatesJanuary.
  6. 1871
    Commune; Treaty of Frankfurt; Bloody WeekMarch to May.

Ems and the frontier battles

France, alarmed by Prussia's victory over Austria in 1866, demanded that Wilhelm I never allow a Hohenzollern on the Spanish throne; Bismarck published a version of the king's telegram from Ems that made the exchange sound insulting to both sides, and Paris crowds shouted for war. Moltke moved 380,000 men to the frontier in 18 days; the French, expecting to invade, were disorganised. Battles at Spicheren, Worth and the bloody Gravelotte-St Privat (18 August) drove Bazaine into Metz.

Sedan and the Republic

MacMahon's army, marching to relieve Metz with the ailing emperor, was cornered at Sedan and shattered by Krupp artillery; Napoleon III surrendered with 100,000 men on 2 September. Paris proclaimed the Republic on 4 September; German armies surrounded the city by the 19th. Gambetta flew out by balloon to Tours and raised armies of the Loire and North that fought bravely and lost; Metz surrendered with 180,000 men in October; francs-tireurs harassed German lines. Paris ate its zoo animals and was shelled in January.

Versailles, Frankfurt and the Commune

On 18 January 1871 the German princes acclaimed Wilhelm as emperor in Louis XIV's Hall of Mirrors; Paris capitulated on 28 January. Thiers's new assembly accepted the Treaty of Frankfurt (10 May): Alsace and northern Lorraine, an indemnity of 5 billion francs, and German occupation until paid. Parisian radicals, humiliated, set up the Commune in March; government troops from Versailles retook the city in the Bloody Week of May, killing perhaps 20,000. Revanche for Alsace-Lorraine shaped French policy until 1918.

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8 surprising things about the Franco-Prussian War

  1. Bismarck said his edited Ems telegram would be 'a red rag to the Gallic bull', and it was.
  2. During the siege 66 balloons carried mail and Gambetta out of Paris; the Germans could not stop them and pigeon post carried microfilmed replies in.
  3. Parisians ate horses, dogs, cats, rats and the zoo's elephants Castor and Pollux.
  4. The Krupp steel breech-loading guns outranged French bronze cannon and decided Sedan.
  5. The Prussian mitrailleuse-versus-needle-gun contest: France's secret machine gun was misused as artillery.
  6. The 5-billion-franc indemnity was paid off early, in 1873, thanks to French bond subscriptions.
  7. Germany's proclamation in the Hall of Mirrors was answered in 1919 when the Treaty of Versailles was signed in the same room.
  8. The Statue of Liberty was conceived by French republicans partly as a symbol of the alliance with the US after 1870.

Sources

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